Sri Sathya Sai Speaks

Man can be equated to the mind and mind can be equated with something which has the capacity to understand. If, today, we feel that the country is not what it should be, we should conclude also that man and man’s knowledge are not what they should be. The country is in a bad shape, because man’s ideas and thoughts are not the right and appropriate ones. If one can know the answer to the question, “For whose sake are we living?,” then we can certainly rectify matters in this country. To this question, the answer that usually comes is, “I am living for my sake, I am eating for my sake, I am drinking for may sake, I am sleeping for my sake, I am reading for my sake.” Not only this, you often say, “I am taking medicine for my own dis-ease, I am putting on a bandage on my own broken leg.” In all these statements, it becomes quite clear that this individual is living for himself, for his own good and not for others. Not only this, if ten persons are sleeping in one room, each one has his own dream. The dream which is dreamt by one, is for himself. All the ten people are not having the same dream. Here it becomes quite clear that whatever you see, whatever you experience is for your own self, and not for others.

If a wife addresses her husband and says, “Now that we have come to the decision to admit our son in the Sathya Sai College, should we not make some clothes for him?” If, at that moment, the husband has no money, he decides to borrow some and get clothes prepared for his son. For whose sake has he borrowed the money? For whom has he got the clothes prepared? He has done all this for the sake of his son. After some time, a few of his friends come to him and tell him that Summer Classes are being conducted in the Sathya Sai College and advise him that, if necessary, he should take a couple of days’ leave and go and listen to those lectures. To this, the individual may give a reply and say, “I cannot get leave even for half a day and how can I go and listen to the discourses in the Summer Classes?” If the next day, his wife gets some incurable disease, then he takes leave, takes his wife to a hospital, admits her there and goes on leave for a number of days. For whose sake has he taken this leave? That is for his wife. After a few days have passed again, an incident may occur by which he has prepared some very good food which he likes, and while the food is in his plate, he gets the news that his son fell under a car and met with an accident on the street. Then he will give up the food that he likes. Although he is hungry and wants to eat, he will run for the sake of his son on the street. He has given up the food which he very much likes to eat. For whose sake has he done this? For whose sake has he run into the street? That is for his son. Thus, we see that when one sees his own people, who are dear to him, suffer from pain, he is willing to sacrifice everything. We come to understand that he is doing nothing for him-self, but that he is doing all these things for people who are dear to him. Will he have complete satisfaction if he and the close members of his family are well? Will it be possible in those conditions for him and the members of his family to live in peace? This will not bring him complete peace because he lives in the society. A human being who is born in the society, who grows in the society, and who lives in the society, cannot for a moment abandon the society. He may say that he is doing his work for promoting his own prospects and for looking after himself and that he has nothing to do with the society. But who has given him his job, and who is paying him his salary and looking after his comforts in life? It is the society around him.

If you are under the impression that you can truly lead a happy life, with your own family, without having anything to do with the society around you, why do you and the family not go into the forest, get away from the society and live happily?

In reality, man cannot cut himself away from the society. When the village in which he lives gets into some trouble, he feels that he is a part of the village. If there is a disease like cholera or plague, then he will also be affected by all the consequences. Why and for whom is he doing this? This is because he has got some connection with the society around him. When the neighbouring house catches fire and is burn ing, he will go and make an attempt to put out that fire. If there is no village, there is no house of his own. The village is sustained by the society. It becomes necessary to recognise that he is a part of the com-munity and that he is doing things for the sake of the community as well.

Today, because the individual interests in a family have taken the upper hand, man is unable to recognise the importance of the family in which he lives. The welfare of the entire country depends upon the states that constitute the country. The welfare of the states that constitute the country depends upon the welfare of the cities in that state. The welfare of the cities, depends, in turn, on the welfare of the villages around each city. The welfare of the villages, in turn, depends upon the welfare of the houses that constitute these villages. The welfare of each house in the village depends upon the welfare of the members of each family. Thus the total welfare of the whole country ultimately depends upon the welfare of each one of the individuals. If there is no individual, there is no family. If there is no family, there is no village. If there is no village, there are no cities. If there are no cities, there is no state. If there is no state, there is no country.

We will take here one small example. In a big city like Delhi, we have what are called social clubs. In these clubs people of different avocations, people who are in positions of authority, people who are not in any position of authority, and various components of the society will all be moving together. When people from different strata of life are moving in the club, spies on behalf of the state will also be moving amongst them in order that they may collect some information from various people. These spies will be prepared to spend any amount of money in order that they may get access to the secret information. Some people will be prepared to give away secret information that is required, because they are in need of money.

They have an idea that by acquiring money by this process, they and their families can live happily. But can they be really happy after divulging such secret information? No. In that context, they are causing great harm to the country. Here we see that individuals who have the selfish idea of making them-selves and the members of their family happy, will undertake such mean work. If they realise that there is a community which has got to be looked after, in addition to themselves as individuals, they will not do such mean things.

Today, many people, in spite of their being educated, care for only one individual and the members of his family. They do not think that there is a community which has to be taken care of.

You should recognise that along with you as an individual, there is also the society and the community. We are not living solely for ourselves. We are not living solely for the sake of our family. We are living for the sake of the world. Even before you were born, your father and mother were there. Your father and mother were part of the society around you. Having been born into the community, how can you go away from the community? This is the right opportunity for you to regard that service to the community is service to God. We must push away the selfishness in us and undertake the task of helping others.

You would have read stories in which the moral is: that God will like those people who like the people around them. On one occasion, Abu Ben Adam was returning to his home, when he found that there was some light coming out from the window of his bed-room. When he looked through that window, he saw that an angel was sitting in his bedroom and using a golden pen for writing in a book. Gently, Abu Ben Adam entered the room and asked, “Mother, what are you doing?” He got the reply, “I am an angel, I am a messenger of God. I am writing a list of names who have shown affection to God.” Abu Ben Adam asked if his name was there in that list. She said, “No, it is not here.” Abu Ben Adam told himself, “I am not loved by God. Have I not been devoted to God? What is my limitation?” He just left it at that and went to his room.

On the next day, to meet some people, he went out of his house. When he returned back, he found again the same light shining out of his window. He again asked, “Mother, what is it that you are writing today?” The angel replied, “Today I am making a list of people who are loved by God.” He asked, “Does that list contain my name?” The angel replied, “In the whole list, I find only your name.” He again asked the question “For what reason is God loving me?” This angel, who is the messenger of God, replied, “You believe that service to the people is service to the Lord. You are finding God in the people and you have identified people with God; so God loves you because you feel that God is omnipresent.” In your daily life, you are saying that God is omnipresent, but you are not putting it into practice. What you should do is to regard God as being present in everyone, everywhere and you should love everyone as you love God. The right thing is to have a broad vision of God and regard Him as being present everywhere. To think that He is confined in some small place is to bring down the whole status of God Himself. Because your ideas are narrow and are very small, you are thinking that God is narrow and small.

Do not have such narrow ideas and narrow views. You must broaden your vision and regard God as being present everywhere; and in that context, you should serve and love everyone. In developing such broad ideas, young people should put in all the effort possible. The young people are the saviours of the world. Swami’s ambition and hopes rest on the young people. The future of the country depends upon the faith of the young people. If you turn out to be good people, the country will turn out to be good. If you promote your narrow ideas and keep them narrow for all the time, you will harm this country.

Your hearts are sacred, your ideas are pure and you should strengthen these qualities in you and serve the people. This is what you should follow.

This body of yours is weak. It is made up of the five elements that make the world. You do not know when you have to abandon this body. People tell us that this body will live for a hundred years. Do not believe in that statement. This body may disappear at any moment - maybe in your youth, maybe in your adolescence or maybe in your old age. It may drop down in a forest, or in a city or on water. When and under what circumstances the body will drop, no one can say. The only thing which is certain is death. So long as the body is with you, good use must be made of it. You must use it only for good and sacred purposes.

You have participated in sacred meetings. You have listened to the sacred discourses from various experienced people. I am hoping that you will use all your energies in future for serving the people. That is the best way to earn the grace of God.